Bryan Lambert will forever be grateful for the Cops for Kids Charity Ride, which raises funds annually for children facing illness, disability or traumatic crisis.

It was Lambert's five-year-old son, Bryce, who almost two years ago was in a medical crisis. He was diagnosed with lymphoblastic lymphoma, a cancerous growth on his throat that threatened to close his airway. 

Bryce was flown to BC Children's Hospital, and Lambert said if the condition hadn't been dealt with immediately, Bryce would have died "within a day or two."

The North Okanagan family stayed at Ronald McDonald House for more than 300 days, and Lambert, an electrician, missed over 100 days of work last year.

"I'm the sole breadwinner of the family so if I'm not working, we don't have income coming in," he said. 

That's where Cops for Kids came in. The charity sponsored the Lamberts and provided roughly $7,000 for them to stay at Ronald McDonald House.  

It's families like the Lamberts that Cops for Kids aims to help every year.  

On Saturday, the 19 Cops for Kids cyclists pedalled into the Vernon RCMP detachment for their second to last stop. They had just made their way from Kamloops, and when they finish their ride in Kelowna on Sunday, they will have traversed roughly 1,000 kilometres. 

"It means the world to us," Lambert said of the Cops for Kids Ride, which takes place over 10 days throughout the southern Interior. 

It's seeing young kids like Bryce get the help they need that has motivated Vernon RCMP's Nicolas Reimann of BC Highway Patrol to participate in the Cops for Kids Ride for 11 straight years. 

Reimann said each Cops for Kids Ride has a different feel, because there are different stories along the way of people being helped.  

"Seeing all the different families and their story and how this foundation changed their life and helped and how they were able to support their crisis makes it basically a different year every time, you just don't know what to expect," he said. 

All of the money that is raised locally through Cops for Kids stays local. 

Cpl. Tania Finn of the Vernon North Okanagan RCMP said the charity was formed in 2001 by a group of police officers who wanted to give back to their community, and since then more than $6.5 million has been raised for children in crisis. 

The ride will conclude at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 15 at the Ramada Inn in Kelowna.

To support the cause, visit .